The smokin spring and summer Maliko report

[PonoBill]

That ocean wasn't all that open. The line we took was over the upper edge of second reef, less than ten feet of water in places. I just missed getting tagged myself, good thing the ground swell was dinky. I managed to turn in and ride the breaking swell that almost got me, and then turned back out and got the heck outta there.

When Livio passed me I decided to try to stick with him as long as I could, which wasn't long, but that's where my extra energy went. When I was eating lunch later I raised my hand towards my mouth and my whole arm curled automatically, nearly shoving the food in my face. Very weird feeling. These damned 150 pound aliens who never fall, have bigger shoulders than I do, and great paddling technique are going to kill me.

[headmount]

LPB... cool vid with JR and Livio cruising in front.  And then with all the windows giving data info, it was like some kind CNN broadcast.  So much more when others are in the frame.  You're a perfect match with those guys.

[LaPerouseBay]

Thanks HM, but those guys are much faster than me.  It's interesting to watch them (for the short times I can see them).  They turn very quickly on those big boards to maximize every ounce of hull speed, then wham, they are off on the ridge of a big swell - very different than my long, drawn out lines.  It's very tough to keep them in frame.  Livio was going easy at the start, that's why I ran up to him.  Jeremy literally vanished up ahead and to the left.

I think PB's remote steering can make everyone a lot faster on those big boards.  I've also noticed that the elite oc-1's do some very quick direction changes.

PB, HM was right about being in deep water when he got clipped.  The beauty of dashware is it's ability to pinpoint time.  I was right behind HM when he fell, so it was easy to mark the location on the google map.  He's the dot, in about 96 feet of water.  The next clip (of me, solo) is the little red line further up on the reef.  I'm taking some steep drops in about 18 feet of water.

[J.Riggs]

That was sooo fun through Kanaha! 25kph on the ski! Wow! Nice job Larry.

[LaPerouseBay]

Thanks Jeremy, it was great seeing you out there.   

Another big group of standups on the 1pm shuttle Thursday. Team Bill, 6 ski's and an oc-1 all arrived at maliko at the same time.  Slow day in the summer!  Jeremy took this pic.  Team Bill and Ralph Sifford launched just a bit earlier. 

Amazing E swell and wind.  No NW swell, high tide.  Wind eased up for the last mile or so.  Big, big swells.  These girls were charging. 

[headmount]

We had a few good DW days last week,  then the wind died again when a low caused light south winds that brought only VOG from the BI and very little surf  on saturday. 

These south winds (Called Kona winds around here) are really a KO.  JUst hanging around the house I felt like crap... no energy, congested, and a achy.  Visibility, which is usually to the horizon, was limited to a mile or two.  Landmarks like Haleakala and West Maui disappeared. 

With these conditions there was a Maui to Molokai race put on by the MCKC  this last saturday.  From what I heard there were two participants from the SUP category.  Young Travis and not so young Ron. (50+) Head winds and side chop conditions were described as brutal and their efforts were awesome in my book. 

Ron is already a hero.  He teaches speech at MCC for the last 20 yrs and deserves some kind of medal.  "Was one complete sentence.  Put da big letter at the beginning and da kine period at da end.  Subject, verb.  Wassthat?" 

Anyway Ron finished in over 6 hrs. which is remarkable given the conditions.  He had tried to draft PBill and me into doing it when we saw him last week when the conditions were great.  But we knew the forecast and just shook our heads.

Today the breeze is already beginning to blow in my window and I'm hopeful for a DW run.  At the very least my headache has gone away.

[PonoBill]

Amazing how a few days without wind and waves turns me into a grumpy shit. Worse than a junkie. I drove to Hana and around the backside of the island with Diane and Sam yesterday, always a great ride. What started as a way to eat up a surfless day turned into a very pleasant trip and reminded me that I actually used to do other thing besides surf and downwind here.

All the same it's nice to see the wind coming up. And we'll have a little swell in a couple of days. So I might actually not be so grumpy soon.

[headmount]

I had some pent up energy from the last four days of VOG and the events from Boston.  Conditions were full on summer style and cranking.  PBill, a Boston raised guy, was telling me on our shuttle up the coast, that he'd been a little grumpy.  We didn't talk much about what happened in Boston but I could tell he was as keen as I was to get in the water and put the hammer down.

PBill had seen some barges out off the coast and we figured we'd avoid the harbor and do our speed course which is downwind all the way to the last little beach before the harbor... 8.5 miles on my GPS.  Turned my GPS right as we hit the wind line and we were off.  In close between Maliko and Hookipa, where I usually can't put much together, today everything was working.  Low tide and zero surf so we planned to stay on the inside line.  Worked well for me.  Two high speed falls yet my fastest time to this finish recorded on my GPS.  1:10 to oil tanks.  

[PonoBill]

Thank god the wind blew today. One more day of this grumpiness and Diane would be kicking me out to the Ohana. I was also catching every bump and hooking everything together but that bugger Headmount just steadily pulled away. I really don't get it, I was in every wave, and almost every big drop was hooked into another. How is he going so much faster?  I was at least ten minutes behind at the tanks. oh well, it was a fine run.

[LaPerouseBay]

Fun run with Jeremy as he coached Hillary and Peggy today.  I tagged along and watched as he gave them advice on the bumps.  Conditions were excellent.  We were inside of your line HM.

Jeremy has some good tricks for steering.  That's the key to downwinding quickly on a standup, IMO.  I see all the fast guys using them.     

[LaPerouseBay]

I really don't get it, / How is he going so much faster? /

Get those shoulders back.  Tough to do with a stiff knee - so get your remote steering dialed.  It's going to revolutionize downwinding on big boards. 

I feel your pain.  My shoulders need to move forward. 

HM, balanced and relaxed.  Big power with the weight over the feet.  Essential if you want to change direction quickly.  And that's what maliko is all about.   

 

[PonoBill]

Kicked HM's ass today. Oh, I know, he'll say he was escorting a guy on his first run. We all have out little excuses.

Really fun run, it started out looking like a 101 at the gulch and ran up to grad school about the time I rolled over the reef way, way on the inside (for me, mr. Chicken) at Spreks. I was in deep doo-doo for a while, but rode it out without drama and then angled out a little. Good thing.  When you're already in the water and a wave tumbles you and your board like the spin cycle, it's time to get the heck outta there. My tail handle was very reassuring. I don't think a leash would have held.  I popped up and caught the next express train.

Coming into the harbor was CRAZY. I caught a nondescript little wave and rode it so long I had time to check my email. 1.25 to the harbor mouth, 1.36 to the sand. Not great, not bad.



Yeah, You're right Larry, I need another session with Jeremy before I cut out for Hood River

[LaPerouseBay]

Excellent conditions today.  Nice glides start to finish.

[headmount]

LPB.. great vid and follow of RS.  Did you notice a slight lag in the speed read out?  In any case it's kinda cool seeing the bursts you're getting at the top of the crests.  I dig the patience you have these days.

I'm beginning to notice those times when there isn't a huge apparent sensation of speed but gaging the paddle pressure during strokes, I can tell that I'm indeed on a pulse that's usually feeding me into something even bigger. 

[LaPerouseBay]

I agree, GPS is great, but has some issues with instant speed readout on the bumps.  I should mount the antenna on my head!   

Patience is important for me.  Better to let a few bumps go than struggle and let them ALL go.

Yes, those pulses feel great.  It's a shame that video doesn't relate the power of those fast links.  They look relatively boring - the water is almost flat.  Small bumps on a big swell are the holy grail at maliko.

The dashware and garmin graph show it though.  The lumps on my graph usually run about a minute or so.  If I can keep the lower end of that bump at 15kph, good things are happening. 

Some peaks are cool to see, but I'd much rather hover in the high teens than zoom between the 20s and single digits.  Steep drops look exiting on video, but average speed also plummets. 

The peak speeds you refer to (on the crests) are the bomb.  That's good fun up there.